We are still in the midst of the season of the Epiphany. There are two high holy days, Easter and Christmas, and we spend the rest of the year deciding what our response will be! Epiphany means to be revealed or made known. How are we making known to the world the miracle of God's presence in our midst in the form of Jesus?

However and whatever our own call to ministry might be, James Finley has some advice on how to proceed. "Merton once told me to quit trying so hard in prayer. He siad: "How does an apple ripen? It just sits in the sun." A small green apple cannot ripen in one night by tightening all its muscles, squinting its eyes and tightening its jaw in order to find itself the next morning miraculously large, red, ripe, and juicy beside its small green counterparts. Like the birth of a baby or the opening of a rose, the birth of the true self takes place in God's time. We must trust in his hidden action within us." - From Merton's Palace of Nowhere by James Finley.